"Curious Incident" rough edit of pgs 1-24 9:02pm

Post Reply New Topic

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
Nighttime" by Mark Haddon

Published by: By Vintage Contemporaries ©03'

Pages: 226

Cost: $12.00

Test line!

Test line!

Test line!

Test line!

••His Family......
• 3 dead grandparents
• 1 senile(dementia) one:
"Thought I was on TV"
• 1 dead mother
• 1 alive father
• 1 Uncle Terry(he works in
a bread shop as a slicer)

Christopher's appearance?
•wears glasses

Where does Mrs. Shears live?:
"She lived on the opposite side of the road,
two houses to the left

Spatial issues!! !! !!

Describe Siobhan?
• long blonde hair
• wears glasses
• green plastic lenses

Color issues!! !! !! !! !

Describe Jeovans?
• smells of soap
• wears 60 hole brown shoes(boots)

Literal meaning issues! think "go play
in the water forum from scoots", and
my "Hand Full of Spoons forum"

Smell Issues!! !! !! ! also.

Perceptional view of people(things
they wear! not faces)......
Police Officer #1(female)
•right ankle stalking has hole in it!
("A little hook in her tights on her
right leg ankle with red scratch in
the middle of it")- but not her face!

Police Officer #2(male)
•flower stuck in shoe
("Big orange leaf stuck to the bottom
of his shoe which was poking out from
one side")-but not face!

Police Station Sargeant #3
(who took in his pocket items)
•hairy hands
•nail bitter with bleeding nails
=No facial awareness and description

When in police car!
•hot plastic smell
•aftershave smell
•take-away chip smell

Describe Wellington?:
• big poodle
• curly black fur
• pale yellow belly

Why Christopher likes dogs? :
"I like dogs, you alway know
what they are thinking"

•happy
•sad
•cross
•concentrating
•faithful
•honest
•cleverer
•more interesting than people

and if I may conjecture: the emotional
range of Christopher himself, or "Self-
Identification" for Christopher.

How Christopher see animals in another
light?
Topic: "Hound of Baskerville"

"I said that there were two dogs killed
in the hound of Baskervilles"

but.....Siobhan say's
"They weren't victims, Sir, Charles
Baskerville was."

and Christopher thinks.....
"Readers care more about people
than dogs".

=Hmmmmm? She is trying to get him
to see past his perceptional issues, but
realizes also he loves pets.

What does Christopher obsesses on?:
• knows countries around the world
• knows capitols around the world
• knows prime numbers up to 7,057

FAVORITE BOOKS AND ACTIVITIES:
What makes Christopher Happy? :
•Appolo missions being read
•early morning strolls(3am-4am),
"I can walk and pretend i am the only person
in the world"

What books make Christopher happy?:
•Science Fact books
"The Milky Way"
1)...90degrees stars are less clear no
reflexion of a universal spherical mirror
formation.

2)...At a angle star are reflective of the
spherical angle.

••Math books
•Holding cell when he had no shoelaces"
2 meters by 2 meters(6" x 6")
and......"approximately 8 cubic feet of air"
Hmmmm!

6x6=48/3=8.667 rounded out!


•Prime Numbers
(a confusing theory I will just apply
in text-G.H)

•Time and routine
when they needed to take his watch:
"I said that I needed it to know exactly
what time it is, screamed and yelled
when they tried to take it off so they
let me keep it."

•Mysteries(puzzles to be solved!)
"Someone has to work out who the
murderer is and then catch him.
A good mystery is when you figure
it out before you finish the book"-your guess
being right!

••Things representing his interests
in his pocket?

•Swiss Army knife
•money
•piece of string
•wooden puzzle piece
•3 pellets rat food
= what is in our pockets have something
of personal use and value!


••What books make Christopher unhappy?:
•Proper(fictional) Novels,
"I am veined with iron, with silver
streaks of common mud. I cannot
contract into the firm fist which those
clench who do not depend on
stimulus"

• asked father, response was "don't know"
• asked Siobhan, response was "don't know"
• asked Mr. jeavons, response was "don't know"

My conjecture is....something about
expressing anger? I don't have
all the story details on this passage. G.H

Who taught Christopher emoticon's? :
= Mr. Siobhan, "eight years ago when
I met Siobhan" and she gave him a
piece of paper with them on them!


are the only ones that are close to the book!

Where did he keep emoticon's?
"I kept piece of paper in my pocket and took
it out when I didn't understand what some
one was saying"

why did he destroy them?
"I told Siobhan that I was doing this, she
got out another piece of paper and said
it probly made people feel very...."
uncomfortable - close to books
picture I can get from website.

"And she laughed. So I tore up the piece of
paper and threw it away"

What were the reprocussions for doing this?
"I ask them what they meant or I walk away"

What are some emotional negatives for
Christopher?:

• being shounted at!
"I don't know what is going to happen"
&
"Makes me scared that they are going to
hit me or touch me"
=A conjecture, can't read faces(face blind)
and emoticon's don't help!

What emotional overwhelming action
does he do?

•hands over ears
•closed eye's
•forward roll to place for forhead to touch
the ground
= being emotionally defensive?

Describe the Literal and understanding
meanings of Christopher and the Officers?

How he is seen by the officer!
P• "would you like to tell me what is going
on here, Youngman?"

C• "The dog is dead"

P• "I've got that so far".

P• "How old are you?"

C• "15years, 3 months, 2 days"

P• "What precisely were you doing
in the garden?"

C• "I was holding the dog."

P• "Why were you holding the dog?"
[repeated]
P• "Why were you holding the dog?"

AUTISTIC PAUSE.......
•Translation time not sufficient
"I like to tell the policeman and I wanted to
answer the questions" but.....
"The policeman didn't give me enough time
to answer(autistic pause time-NOT real time(NT) )
the question properly"

P•"Why were you holding the dog?"

C• "I like dogs"

P• "Is this your fork?"

C• "No"

P• "You seem very upset over this?"

EMOTIONAL PAUSE AND REACTION(AS well
as autisic pause)
"He was asking too many questions and he was
asking them to fast"

Again a realtime dialogue that conflicts
autism-type wiring (physical reaction thought)
Hmmmmm!

P• "I am going to ask you again"

FRAUSTATION PAUSE IN COMMUNICATION
GAP: (emotional overload)
"He returns his forhead to the ground and
groans"
Note!-"I make this noise when there is too
much information coming into my head
from the outside world"-"emotional overload"

A description given:
("It is like when your upset and hold the radio
to one ear and you tune in half-way between
two stations so all you get is white noise......
volume turned up.....you are safe and
cannot hear anything else")-Hmmmm?
I would say this is a exagerations, and
we have had forums on emotional
overload descriptions. And in the Christophers
case he lives in his own world and intrusions
overwhelm him.

TOUCH AND CONTACT ISSUES:
P• "The policeman took hold of my arm and
lifted me up onto my feet"
(and this is where he assaults the officer)

Hmmmmm?WrongPlanet forum topic????

Writing a book tactic:
Who told him this?
Mrs.Siobhan

Why?
•I should write something I would a want
to read.
•The book should be something that should
grab peoples attention.
• her view on his introduction, "Thought it
was different."

What did he start it with?
"Dog Incident", or catch someones attention.

Why is this tactic important from Siabhan's
point of view?
Perceptional training!

Explain?
"It happened to me and I find it hard to
imagine things which did not happen to me".
LACKS INTERNAL IMAGINATION!

=Thus creating Perceptional strengths!

Describe another perceptional issue?
Describing what he see!

Example:
Quotation Marks.......
"She put this word inside inverted comas
("xyy") by making wiggly quotation signs
with first and last finger"....or words?????

"I don't tell jokes because I do not
understand them"

A Example given:
His fathers joke translated in
Christopher's brain...."literal meaning?"
"His face was drawn like a curtain"

#1-face drawn with a pencil
#2-face exhusted
#3-face pulled across a window

Christopher thinks on the 3 versions
Issue in autism??????
"Like three different pieces of music
playing at the same time"
=(uncomfortable, confusing, non-white
noise constantly drowning out)

......We have had forums on this topic?
I don't remember. G.H

Christophers's initial view,
"Because telling lies about people is called
slander"

G.H's note: When he describes the
stars and thoughts about the stars
parts of his perception are obvious!
It is the verbalizing it that is a weakness.

When in police car!
•hot plastic smell
•aftershave smell
•take-away chip smell
and the night is a clear sky,
and the milkyway is obvious!
He zones on the star system in
his minds world:

Milkyway theories:
1)...Linear, "a long line of stars"

2)...Gaseous

3)...Why we see the stars

4)...prime number theories

very interesting Ghosty, but why did you choose this forum for it ? Did you finish the book? Did you ever write any more notes?